Known are the health benefits to the regular consumption of fresh produce (fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and fresh grains). Health conscious consumers are increasingly searching for value-added fresh produce products.
At odds with the growing trend toward healthy eating is the reality that today's consumer is extremely pressed for time. The purchase of loose produce is time consuming as it requires time to select and inspect individual produce pieces, requires time to bag the produce pieces, and requires time to prepare the produce for eating. Conventional ready-to-eat (RTE) packaging for fresh produce includes packaging in which the produce can be steam cooked, such as in a microwave oven. However, such RTE packaging brings added expense to the produce item, deterring the consumer away from produce placed in RTE packaging.
Desirable would be packaging that not only preserves the freshness and taste of fresh produce, but also displays the fresh produce in an appealing manner, with the packaging also delivering the fresh produce in a cost-effective and convenient manner to the consumer.